Knowledge Object And Collaboration Management System

ABSTRACT

The inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems and methods in which a point management system packages worker thought-processes and supporting reference materials with the point or conclusion being made, enabling rapid review and verification by a decision-maker. The point management system includes a literal object database, snip object database and point object database, wherein each snip object is derived from a literal object and linked to the location from which it was derived. The system further includes a point authoring module that enables users to link snip objects within the point object, and a snip verification engine that enables a reviewer of the point object to verify the supporting snip objects and literal objects, their relationships to each other and to the points being made in the point object, and the team collaboration that has transpired at both the snip object level and point object level.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No.61/897,142, entitled “Knowledge Object and Collaboration ManagementSystem”, filed on Oct. 29, 2013. This and all other referenced extrinsicmaterials are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Wherea definition or use of a term in a reference that is incorporated byreference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that termprovided herein, the definition of that term provided herein is deemedto be controlling.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention is knowledge sharing and collaborationmanagement system.

BACKGROUND

The background description includes information that may be useful inunderstanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any ofthe information provided herein is prior art or relevant to thepresently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically orimplicitly referenced is prior art.

As industrialized nations increasingly shift from industry-basedeconomies to knowledge-based economies, knowledge must be created andtransferred across workers faster and more efficiently than ever before.In order to compete, today's knowledge organization increasingly needsits workers to read more, learn faster and more easily share theresulting knowledge with co-workers. Some of the specific processes inneed of acceleration include:

-   -   Assimilating learned information acquired from reading multiple        pieces of content;    -   Synthesizing the assimilated learned information into        higher-levels of knowledge (aggregated knowledge), including        findings, conclusions and recommendations;    -   Presenting the knowledge to others in an efficient, yet        verifiable manner    -   Validating and verifying knowledge for efficient evidence-based        decision-making

Historically, electronic information has been synthesized into reportsusing tools like Microsoft Word® or Google Docs®, or into slidepresentations using tools like Microsoft PowerPoint®. These tools, andthe information formats they generate, are limited in that theyprimarily output information in a one-dimensional form. To the extentsupporting content or references that have been reviewed by a knowledgeworker are associated into the output, they are by way ofcross-references or hyperlinks to other, unrelated systems, and are notincorporated into the information format itself.

For example, reports and presentations may contain references tosupporting content or evidence contained within secondary sources,however they do not incorporate those references and secondary sourcesas additional layers of information within the report or presentationformat. As a result, it is very time-consuming, and sometimes notpossible, for the reader of the cross-reference to access thecross-referenced information. The reader of the cross-reference has toexecute several processes to acquire the cross-referenced information.They have to read footnotes or endnotes, use that information to searchfor the source documents, acquire the source documents and navigate tothe appropriate location within the source documents. Where across-reference starts and ends is often not clear from thecross-reference, which does not incorporate a precise way of locatingreferenced information within a source document.

Reports and presentations may also contain hyperlinks to secondarysources stored on the WWW or an internal file system. While thisprovides a means of potentially verifying a source, and finding anexcerpt within a source, this process has several drawbacks with respectto performing knowledge work:

-   -   It is generally a manual process that requires the user to go        outside the system where the excerpt is stored to navigate to        where the source document or web page is stored;    -   It relies on a source website remaining at the same Internet        address that was captured at the time of excerpt capture;    -   It relies on the content having remained unchanged since the        time the excerpt was captured;    -   It requires the user to manually scan the content of the source        in order to find the specific location of the excerpt within        that source;    -   It requires the application of judgment that the user has in        fact accurately matched up the excerpt with the location within        the body of the source;    -   For anyone whom the user seeks to share the excerpt with, they        have to go through a similar process.

This can be quite problematic and frustrating, particularly forknowledge workers who seek to curate their excerpts and related sourcesas part of their knowledge base. Or, for those who seek to provide adeliverable to others based on referenceable, verifiable excerpts ofcontent as is typical in research, academic and other settings wherecitation systems are commonly used for this purpose. It is quitefrustrating and time-consuming to read-read an entire document everytime one wants to verify the source and context of an excerpt. And webpages are dynamic entities. Their content frequently changes, theirlocation frequently changes.

Furthermore, as social technologies increase in use and prevalence,there is a need for communicating this type of information via activitystreams or other HTML-based communication mechanisms commonly found inweb-based systems.

Accordingly, there is a need for a fundamentally new way for knowledgeworkers to package their points and conclusions with the underlyingcontent and sources which were reviewed and analyzed in the process ofcreating them, such that a recipient of the points and conclusions canquickly and efficiently verify them against the underlying content andsources.

These and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein areincorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or useof a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary tothe definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that termprovided herein applies and the definition of that term in the referencedoes not apply.

All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to thesame extent as if each individual publication or patent application werespecifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference isinconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein,the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definitionof that term in the reference does not apply.

The following description includes information that may be useful inunderstanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any ofthe information provided herein is prior art or relevant to thepresently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically orimplicitly referenced is prior art.

In some embodiments, the numbers expressing quantities of ingredients,properties such as concentration, reaction conditions, and so forth,used to describe and claim certain embodiments of the invention are tobe understood as being modified in some instances by the term “about.”Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters set forth inthe written description and attached claims are approximations that canvary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by aparticular embodiment. In some embodiments, the numerical parametersshould be construed in light of the number of reported significantdigits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Notwithstandingthat the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scopeof some embodiments of the invention are approximations, the numericalvalues set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely aspracticable. The numerical values presented in some embodiments of theinvention may contain certain errors necessarily resulting from thestandard deviation found in their respective testing measurements.

Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth hereinshould be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints andopen-ended ranges should be interpreted to include only commerciallypractical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered asinclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates thecontrary.

As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow,the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the descriptionherein, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise.

The recitation of ranges of values herein is merely intended to serve asa shorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range. Unless otherwise indicated herein, eachindividual value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein can beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and allexamples, or exemplary language (e.g. “such as”) provided with respectto certain embodiments herein is intended merely to better illuminatethe invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of theinvention otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should beconstrued as indicating any non-claimed element essential to thepractice of the invention.

Groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the inventiondisclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations. Each groupmember can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combinationwith other members of the group or other elements found herein. One ormore members of a group can be included in, or deleted from, a group forreasons of convenience and/or patentability. When any such inclusion ordeletion occurs, the specification is herein deemed to contain the groupas modified thus fulfilling the written description of all Markushgroups used in the appended claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems and methods inwhich a point management system packages worker thought-processes andsupporting reference materials with the point or conclusion being made,enabling rapid review and verification by a decision-maker.

In the preferred embodiment, point objects incorporate a multi-leveldata structure that may consist of other point objects, snip objectswhich include excerpts of documents, segments of audio or video files,or other forms of literal objects along with any metadata added by thesnip creator or other viewers, as well as the documents (or other formof literal objects) from which said snips were captured. Point objectsrepresent work-product created by the point author, and can include, butnot limited to, the author's conclusions, points, thoughts, ideas,findings and organizational structures related to snip objects processedby the point author. The point objects may be represented as a bulletedor numbered list, a hierarchical point structure (e.g. outline) ornarrative paragraph(s) of text. The snip objects may include any snipobjects to which the point author has access, including those created bythe point author or others. The snip objects are associated with theliteral objects from which they were captured, enabling the pointauthor, and anyone provided access to the point object, to navigate toviewing the snip objects, including at the precise location within theliteral objects from where they were derived so the reviewer of a pointobject can see the full context of all the snip objects that have beenembedded inside the point object.

Basic Data Structure:

Publishers of point objects can share the point objects in web pages anddocuments by inserting a URL associated with the published point objectinto the web pages or documents. When viewing a published snip object,snip objects that are associated with the point object are visuallyidentified such that the viewer can open/expand the snip object to viewits contents. Here this mechanism is shown as a buttonized-word that,when clicked, expands the point object to reveal the contents of thesnip object. Snip objects further contain a means for the viewer toaccess the underlying source document (or other literal object) as theirpermissions provide, which may include, but not be limited to, ahyperlink to that source document. Users with access to the point objectmay make comments on the point object, which are separate and distinctfrom comments placed on snip objects. This creates a two-levelcommenting system, wherein snip comments represent comments on the snipobject itself, and point-level comments represents comments on the pointobject and/or how that point object relates to snip objects associatedwith it (e.g. how well they provide support for the point, or relate tothe point being made). Comments are shown in this application at thebottom of the point object. In other embodiments, comments on pointobjects may be at the paragraph or bullet level within a point object.

Snip objects may be created from documents, web pages, videos, audiofiles or other content stored within the literal database. A user mayincorporate snip objects into a point object and then create pointsbased on those snip objects (bottoms-up point-maker), or create theirpoints first and then add snips to a point object (top-downpoint-maker). Snip objects may be associated with point objects usingany method known to those skilled in the art, including but not limitedto drag-and-drop of snip objects, typing the “@” or other symbol withina point-object field to trigger a query of a snip object database. Thevisual association between snip objects and point objects may bedepicted using any method known to those skilled in the art, includingbut not limited to showing part of the snip object under the pointobject. Other embodiments can be appreciated, such as displaying snipobjects and point objects in adjacent columns and drawing splinesbetween point objects and associated snip objects, rotating snips intothe viewport for display next to point objects when point objects areselected by the user. Point objects may be displayed to users as a listof titles in a collapsed form, which can be expanded upon useractivation to display all points and associated snip objects for thatpoint object.

The point management system comprises a literal object database,configured to store literal objects (e.g. document, web page, image,video file) and a snip object database configured to store a pluralityof snip objects, each snip object including an excerpt of, or pointerto, digital content from a literal object stored in the literaldatabase, at least one piece of snip metadata input by a user and a sniplocation corresponding with the location of the excerpt of digitalcontent within the literal object.

A point authoring module is coupled with the snip database andconfigured to provide a user interface enabling a user to generate a setof points and embed snip objects within that set of points. A snipsearch engine generates a query in real-time based on key words input bythe user, submits the query to the snip database and receives a resultset of snip objects from the snip database that satisfy the query. Insome embodiments, the user may simply drag and drop a snip object toinclude it in a point. The point authoring module is configured toinstantiate a point object based on the set of snips, link zero or moreof those snip objects with the point object as part of the pointcontent, and configure a device to store the point object.

In some embodiments the point authoring module is coupled with the snipdatabase and configured to provide a user interface configured to allowa user to generate a set of points, instantiate a point object based onthe set of snips, load snip objects into the point object according toindicators specified by a user, re-order the snip objects pursuant touser instructions, link the loaded snip objects within the point objectand configure a device to store the point object.

A snip verification engine is coupled with the snip database and theliteral database. It is configured to detect an interaction with thesnip object within a literal object and instantiate a mechanism todisplay the literal object associated with the snip object by looking upthe literal object within the literal database. The mechanism to displaya literal object includes at least one snip location and at least onepiece of snip metadata, and the snip verification engine is configuredto exhibit the snip within the literal object according to the literaldisplay mechanism.

In some embodiments, the point metadata can be classified as a fact, apoint, a conclusion and a synthesis. The literal object can be adocument, with the snip location comprising a set of coordinates whichidentify a section of that document. The point management system caninclude a snipping module that enables users to create snip objects andstore them in the snip object database. In other embodiments, accessrights to the point objects, snip objects and literal objects can begoverned according to rights policies specific to each of the objects.User access to snip objects can be governed by the rights policy datafor the literal objects referenced by the snip objects. The pointmanagement system can also include a metadata management systemconfigured to resolve differences between the rights policies of pointobjects, snip objects and literal objects. In other embodiments, snipobjects returned from a query of the snip object database by the snipsearch engine can include snip objects created by users other than theauthor of the point object. In another embodiment, the point managementsystem can further generate a point card widget configured for insertionwithin a web page, such as an activity stream or blog.

Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventivesubject matter will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanyingdrawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 a is a schematic of a point management system capable ofgenerating and managing point objects.

FIG. 1 b illustrates an example data structure of the inventive subjectmatter.

FIG. 2 provides an illustrated example of a point database.

FIG. 3 provides an illustrated example of a snip database.

FIG. 4 provides an illustrated example of a portion of a snip database.

FIG. 5 provides an illustrated example of a literal database.

FIG. 6 a illustrates a user interface of some embodiments for creating apoint object.

FIG. 6 b illustrates a user interface of some embodiments for querying asnip database.

FIGS. 7 a-7 c illustrates a user interface of some embodiments forpresenting a point object.

FIG. 8 illustrates a user interface of some embodiments for verifying asnip object.

FIGS. 9 a-9 b provides an illustrated example of snip and point commentdata structures.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of inserting a snip object into a pointobject.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of viewing a snip object within a pointobject.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of verifying a snip object.

FIG. 13 illustrates a user interface of some embodiments for embedding apoint widget within an activity stream.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example snipping user interface of someembodiments.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example data structure for a user object.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following discussion provides many example embodiments of theinventive subject matter. Although each embodiment represents a singlecombination of inventive elements, the inventive subject matter isconsidered to include all possible combinations of the disclosedelements. Thus if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and asecond embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subjectmatter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A,B, C, or D, even if not explicitly disclosed.

As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term“coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which twoelements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirectcoupling (in which at least one additional element is located betweenthe two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with”are used synonymously.

It should be noted that the above-described invention relates to acomputing system connected to a network. The computing system mayinclude any suitable combination of computing devices, includingservers, interfaces, systems, databases, agents, peers, engines,controllers, or other types of computing devices operating individuallyor collectively. One should appreciate the computing devices comprise aprocessor configured to execute software instructions stored on atangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium (e.g., harddrive, solid state drive, RAM, flash, ROM, etc.). The softwareinstructions preferably configure the computing device to provide theroles, responsibilities, or other functionality as discussed below withrespect to the disclosed apparatus. In especially preferred embodiments,the various servers, systems, databases, or interfaces exchange datausing standardized protocols or algorithms, possibly based on HTTP,HTTPS, AES, public-private key exchanges, web service APIs, knownfinancial transaction protocols, or other electronic informationexchanging methods. Data exchanges preferably are conducted over apacketswitched network, the Internet, LAN, WAN, VPN, or other type ofpacket switched network. The computing and network systems which supportthis invention are more fully described in the patent applicationsreferenced within this application.

FIG. 1 a illustrates point management system 100 of some embodiments,here shown as comprising three databases: a point database 110 forstoring point objects, a snip database 120 for storing snip objects anda literal database 130 for storing literal objects.

As shown in FIG. 6 a and FIG. 7 a, point objects represent digitalwork-product created by a point author, and can include, but not limitedto, the author's conclusions, points, thoughts, ideas, findings andorganizational structures related to snip objects processed by the pointauthor. Point objects are digital documents and may include bulleted ornumbered lists, a hierarchical structure (e.g. outline), narrativeparagraph(s) of text, linked or embedded pictures, video files, audiofiles or other document files. Point objects may further include one ormore snip objects referenced within the point object.

As shown in FIGS. 3, 6 a, 6 b and 7 a, snip objects comprise an excerptof content that has been selected from a literal object by a user.Literal objects comprise a form of digital content, and may include adigital document, web page, e-Book, blog, picture, video, audio or otherform of digital content known in the art. In FIGS. 6 a, 6 b and 7 a, theliteral object is shown as a document, with the snip object includingimage of the selected content, and information that has been inserted bya user as metadata to be associated with the snip object. In someembodiments, the snip object is a separate entity from the literalobject from which the associated excerpt of content has been selected.Thus the viewing and modifying of the snip object (and associatedcontent) has no effect on the literal object from which the content wasselected. In some embodiments, the snip object is a two-layer objectthat includes both the image of the content selected from the literal,as well as text from the literal that is associated with the image,derived from the image via character recognition technologies such asOCR or captured as part of the user content selection process based onthe features offered by the software used to view the literal at thetime the snip object was selected. Additional embodiments of snipobjects, their associations and interactions, and examples of how theyare created are described in co-owned U.S. patent application 61/722,033entitled “Collaboration Management Systems”, filed Nov. 2, 2012 whereinthey are referred to as collaboration objects, and in co-owned U.S.patent application 61/788,106 entitled “Website Excerpt Validation andManagement System”, filed Mar. 15, 2013, wherein they are referred to asdocument clip objects. Additionally, snip objects may be created using asnipping module interfaced with a reading application, as described inco-owned U.S. patent application 61/968,505 entitled “System and Methodfor Transmitting Organizational Knowledge To and From ReadingApplications”, filed Mar. 21, 2014.

In some embodiments, snip objects can further comprise assertionobjects, representing a relationship between an assertion and aninformation source, as described in co-owned U.S. patent application61/755,839 entitled “Assertion Quality Assessment and ManagementSystem”, filed Jan. 23, 2013. For example, a snip object can represent afact or a point that is supported by an information source. A snipobject can also represent opinion or a conclusion that is derived froman information source. Other snip objects can represent an observationor a perception that is based on an information source. Snip objects canfurther be implemented as metadata objects having a similar structureand relationship among other metadata objects as described in co-ownedU.S. patent application 61/739,367 entitled “Metadata ManagementSystem”, filed Dec. 19, 2012. For literals that have a temporaldimension, such as a video clip or an audio clip, the snip objectmetadata may include a temporal range (e.g., indicating a beginning timeand an end time) selected by the users from within the literal object.

Referring back to FIG. 1 a, the point management system 100 includes apoint management module 156, a point authoring module 150, a snipverification engine 158, a user interface module 154 and an outputinterface 160. The user interface module 154 communicates with computingdevices 172, 174 and 176 over a network 170. Network 170 could be theInternet, a virtual private network, corporate network or any networkknown in the art for enabling computer networking across a collection ofcomputer users. Computing devices 172, 174 and 176 are shown here as aportable computer, tablet and a smartphone respectively, but couldlaptops, wearable devices or any computing device known in the artcapable of communicating over a network. Users 177 behind the computingdevices 172, 174 and 176 interact with different point objects throughthe user interface module 154 of the point management system 100. Pointmanagement system 100 may also include user database 185 for storinguser information, including users that have created point objects, snipobjects, or otherwise related to objects stored in point database 110,snip database 120 or literal database 130. Examples of functions thepoint management system 100 executes in response to inputs from usersinclude embedding a snip object at a specified insertion point within apoint object (FIG. 10), validating and presenting a snip object forviewing within a point object (FIG. 11) and verifying a snip objectwithin a point object (FIG. 12). In some embodiments, point managementsystem 100 includes a metadata management module 144 implemented as ametadata management system described in co-owned U.S. patent application61/739,367 entitled “Metadata Management System”, filed Dec. 19, 2012.

FIG. 6 a illustrates an example point user interface 600 which, in someembodiments, can be generated by the point authoring module and presentat the user computing devices 172, 174 and 176 through the userinterface module 154. As shown in FIG. 6 a, the point user interfacedisplays different attributes of a point object. For example, the pointuser interface 600 displays point name 215, point content 220 and pointauthor 235. Point user interface 600 comprises word processingfunctionality, which can be a rich text editor, HTML editor, wordprocessor, presentation-authoring, blog or wiki authoring system or anyother means known in the art for authoring and editing digitaldocuments. In FIG. 6 a, the point user interface 600 is shown to be inan edit mode, which enables a user to author and edit point content 220using authoring and editing tools contained on authoring toolbar 605.

In addition, point user interface 600 is in communication with snipsearch engine 152 within point authoring module 150 through userinterface module 154. Point user interface 600 is shown here asincluding a snip insert button 615 and keyboard shortcut 620 (typing the“@” symbol) for initiating a query of the snip database 120 through thesnip search engine 152. Upon initiating of snip insert button 615 orkeyboard shortcut 620, snip search box 625 appears and snip searchengine 152 initiates a query of the snip database 120 based onkeystrokes type into snip search input 630 by a user. Accessible snipsubset 635, here shown as a list of snip objects according to sniptitles 325, presents to the user a list of snip objects that user hasaccess to within the snip database 120 according to rights policy data370. Rights policy data 370 may be governed by the metadata managementmodule 144 in some embodiments, implemented as the metadata managementsystem described in co-owned U.S. patent application 61/739,367 entitled“Metadata Management System”, filed Dec. 19, 2012. In anotherembodiment, rights policy data 370 is governed by the rights policy data550 of the literal objects that are referenced within the snip objectsby literal ID 505. In such an embodiment, the point management systemenables a user to access a snip object when the user has access to theliteral object, and does not enable a user to access a snip object whenthat user does not have access to the literal object referenced by thesnip object by literal ID 505.

Snip search engine 152 dynamically filters the accessible snip subset635 as the user inputs characters into snip search input 630. In thisembodiment, snip search engine 152 is shown filtering accessible snipsubset 635 based on matching the string of characters user has inputinto snip search input 630 with snip titles 325 and presenting only thematching snip objects. Upon user selection of a snip object within theaccessible snip subset 635 (including as-filtered by snip search engine152), the selected snip object is inserted into point content 220 as alinked snip object. The sort order of snip object query resultspresented to the user may be as illustrated in co-owned U.S. provisionalpatent application No. 61/968,494 entitled “Authoring System and Methodfor Incorporating Organizational Knowledge into Written Communications”,filed Mar. 21, 2014. In some embodiments, snip objects are accessed froma graph, examples of which are illustrated in co-owned U.S. patentapplication 61/755,839 entitled “Assertion Quality Assessment andManagement System”, filed Jan. 23, 2013 as well as co-owned U.S. patentapplication No. 61/968,494 entitled “Authoring System and Method forIncorporating Organizational Knowledge into Written Communications,”filed Mar. 21, 2014.

As shown in FIG. 1 b, in the preferred embodiment, point objects 10incorporate a multi-layer data structure. Point objects 10 representwork-product created by a point author, and can include, but not limitedto, the author's conclusions, points, thoughts, ideas, findings andorganizational structures related to snip objects processed by the pointauthor. As shown in FIG. 1 b, point objects include a point layer 60connected to a snip layer 40 through a point-snip verification link 50.In point layer 60, points made by a user may be represented as abulleted or numbered list, a hierarchical point structure (e.g. outline)which could consist of one or more levels, or narrative paragraph(s) oftext. Point objects further include a literal layer 20 comprised ofliteral objects and a snip layer 40 comprised of snip objects whichinclude excerpts of documents or other forms of literal objects alongwith any metadata added by the snip creator or other viewers. The snipobjects are connected to the literal objects through snip-literalverification link 30.

Snip objects in the snip layer 40 may include any snip objects to whichthe point author has access, including those created by the point authoror others. The snip objects are associated with the point objects viathe point-snip verification link 50 enabling the point author, andanyone provided access to the point object, to navigate to viewing thesnip objects. Additionally, the snip objects are associate with theliteral objects from which they were captured via the snip-literalverification link 30, including at the precise location within theliteral objects from where they were derived so the reviewer of a pointobject can see the full context of all the snip objects that have beenembedded inside the point object.

Point objects 10 can include a network address 12, here shown in FIG. 1b as a URL pointing to an address on the public Internet. Networkaddress 12 could be any network address known to those skilled in theart. Publishers of point objects 10 can share the point objects in webpages and documents by inserting the network address 12 associated withthe published point object into the web pages or documents as ahyperlink. When viewing a published point object 10, snip objects thatare associated with the point object are visually identified such thatthe viewer can open/expand the snip object to view its contents. Asshown in FIG. 7 a, inactive linked snip button 720 is shown in a userinterface embodiment as a buttonized-word that, when clicked, transformsinto an active linked snip button 730 and expands the point object toreveal the contents of the snip object as shown in detail in FIG. 7 a.

Users with access to the point object 10 may make comments on the pointobject, here shown in FIG. 1 b as team point-snip collaboration 45.Comments on the point object are separate and distinct from commentsplaced on snip objects, which are shown in FIG. 1 b as team snip-literalcollaboration 25. This creates a two-level commenting system, whereinsnip comments represent comments on the snip object itself, andpoint-level comments represents comments on the point object and/or howthat point object relates to snip objects associated with it (e.g. howwell they provide support for the point, or relate to the point beingmade).

As shown in FIG. 1 b, each object type depicted in this application maycorrespond to a separate layer within the data structure, with theobjects being stored within a separate database. Point layer 60incorporates point objects which are stored in point database 110, andmay be created by, and accessed by, a distinct set of users from sniplayer 40 and literal layer 20 as specified in the rights policy data 250associated with point database 110. Snip layer 40 incorporates snipobjects which are stored in snip database 120, and may be created by,and accessed by, a distinct set of users from point layer 60 and literallayer 20 as specified in the rights policy data 370 associated withpoint database 110. Literal layer 20 incorporates literal objects whichare stored in literal database 130, and may be created by, and accessedby, a distinct set of users from point layer 60 and snip layer 40 asspecified in rights policy data 550 associated with literal database130.

Point objects in point layer 60 can incorporate user point-snipassertions 55, which comprise assertions of a user about the snip objectreferenced by the point object. Team point-snip collaboration 45 mayinclude team or co-worker assessment of the merits of the userpoint-snip assertions 55. Additionally, snip layer 40 can incorporateuser snip-literal assertions 35, which comprise assertions of a userabout the relationship of the snip object to the literal object fromwhich the snip object was derived or captured. The team snip-literalcollaboration 25 may include team or co-worker assessment of the meritsof the user snip-literal assertions. Assessment of the above describedassertions via the above-described collaboration is described more fullyin co-owned U.S. patent application 61/755,839 entitled “AssertionQuality Assessment and Management System”, filed Jan. 23, 2013 andincorporated herein.

As shown in FIG. 6 a, linked snip objects can be presented in the pointuser interface 600 as a linked snip title 645 which incorporates thesnip title 325 into the visible authored content within the pointcontent 220, or as a linked snip indicator 647 which does notincorporate the snip title 325 into the visible point content 220, butrather presents an indicator appearing more analogous to a footnote. Thetitle visibility selector 640 enables a user to make this selection,which is then stored as part of the point object as title visibilityindicators 230 as shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 6 a, the linked snip count650 presents the number of snip objects that are embedded in the pointobject to users.

In FIG. 7 a, the point user interface 600 is shown in a display mode,which can be triggered by user selecting a save function on authoringtoolbar 605. In display mode, user interface 600 is configured topresent attributes of the point object such as point name 215 and pointauthor 235. Point user interface 600 is further shown presenting linkedsnip objects as inactive linked snip buttons 720 and active linked snipbuttons 730. When selected by a user for viewing, snip buttons becomeactive linked snip buttons 730, creating a snip display space 735 withinthe point content, and displaying the associated snip object 122 withinthe point user interface. The point content 220 (as shown in FIG. 6 a),splits into upper viewable point content 611 that is above the displayedsnip object and lower viewable point content 612 that lies below thedisplayed snip object. Here the displayed snip object is shown asincluding the snip title 325, creator 350, snip note 330, snip comments347 and snip image 335. The snip-text switch 740 enables a user to viewthe snip text 340 associated with/extracted from the snip image 335. Thevisual association between snip objects and point objects may bedepicted using any method known to those skilled in the art, includingbut not limited to showing part of the snip object under the pointobject. Other embodiments can be appreciated, such as displaying snipobjects and point objects in adjacent columns and drawing splinesbetween point objects and associated snip objects, rotating snips intothe viewport for display next to point objects when point objects areselected by the user. Point comments 232 are shown in FIG. 7 a at thebottom of the point object. In other embodiments, point comments may beat the paragraph or bullet level within a point object.

In an alternative embodiment, the point user interface 600 is configuredfor assignment of point comments 232 as tasks as shown in FIG. 7 b. Thecomment creator 925 can select a task assignee 795 from a list ofeligible users 790 here shown as a dropdown list containing user names.Upon activation of the task assignment button 780, the assigned task1545 is stored in user database 185 as shown in FIG. 15.

As shown in FIG. 1 a, point management system 100 may include pointmanagement module 156, which in some embodiments can be configured togenerate point navigation interface 701 as shown in FIG. 7 c. As shownin FIG. 7 c, the point navigation interface displays differentattributes of a point object. The point navigation interface 701 may beconfigured to display a list of collapsed point objects 702 from pointdatabase 110. Point objects are shown in FIG. 7 c displayed to users asa list of point titles, representing a collapsed form of a point object,which can be expanded upon user activation to display all points andassociated snip objects for that point object as shown in FIG. 7 a.

As shown in FIG. 1 a, snip verification engine 158 is also incommunication with point authoring module 150, user interface module154, snip database 120, literal database 130 and literal user interface800 (as shown in FIG. 8). In some embodiments, when a user selects theview in source activator 770 shown in FIG. 7 a, the snip verificationengine 158 can generate literal user interface 800 (shown in FIG. 8). Asshown in FIG. 8, literal user interface 800 includes a literal viewer805 and snip viewer 820. Literal viewer 805 may comprise a documentviewer, such as a web-based document viewer, a universal documentviewer, a PDF viewer, an e-Book viewer, a web browser or any digitaldocument viewer known in the art. Literal viewer 805 may also comprise avideo player, audio player or image viewer. Literal viewer 805 isconfigured to load and display literal objects from the literal database130 upon instruction from snip verification engine 158, according toliteral IDs 505 referenced by the snip object displaying the view insource activator 770 selected by the user.

Literal user interface 800 further includes a snip viewer 820. Snipviewer 820 is configured to display snip metadata associated withliteral objects displayed in the literal viewer 805. For example, asshown in FIG. 8, snip metadata 822, snip metadata 824 and snip metadata826 may represent various attributes of snip objects including sniptitles 325, notes 330 and snip tags 345 that are associated snip objectssnipped from literal object 132. Snip metadata could include other snipobject attributes, including snip type 310, creator 350, snip comments347 or any snip object attribute that comprises snip objects as shown inFIG. 3. In FIG. 8, snip metadata 822 is shown as being selected by auser. Snip verification engine 158 then instructs literal viewer 805 todisplay the page of literal object 132 corresponding to page number 410in parts 365 associated with the corresponding snip object. Snipverification engine 158 further positions snip image frame 840 accordingto the top coordinate 415, left coordinate 415, width 425 and height 430associated with the selected snip object. Literal user interface 800 isfurther configure to draw pointer 830 to visually display therelationship between snip metadata 822 and the snip image frame 840. Inoperation, if the user then selected snip metadata 824, the processwould repeat, literal viewer 805 would rotate to the page associatedwith the snip object referenced by snip metadata 824 and the snip imageframe 840 would be positioned according to the snip object referenced bysnip metadata 824.

In order to make it easier for the viewer to verify a snip object, whenthe user selects the view in source activator 770, instead of displayingthe literal object from the beginning, snip verification engine 158configures literal user interface 800 to display the literal object insuch a way that the portion of the literal (the snip image) associatedwith the snip object is immediately viewable within the literal viewer805 as outlined by the snip image frame 840 without user's interaction.In some embodiments, this feature requires the literal viewer 805 toscroll a document to a spot where the snip image is shown, based on thedata contained within parts 365 of the snip object.

Referring back to FIG. 7 a, if the user selected active linked snipbutton 730 a second time, snip display space 735 would close, causingsnip object 122 to disappear from view and upper visible point content611 and lower visible point content 612 to merge together. Point userinterface 600 is further configured to allow a user to insert pointcomments 232 and presents point comments 232 that have already beeninserted by others. A user can insert point comments 232 by inputtingtheir comment into point comment input field 750 and submitting thepoint comment for saving within point database 110 by selecting pointcomment add button 760. When a user has access to edit a point based onrights policy data 250, the point user interface 600 returns to editmode when the user selects point edit activator 710.

FIG. 6 b shows an alternative embodiment of snip search box 625, hereshown as presenting collapsed snip objects 665 within an accessible snipsubset 635. When a user hovers their mouse over a collapsed snip object665, a single snip add button 670 is revealed as well as a snipselection checkbox 680 for selection of multiple snip objects forinsertion upon selection of multiple snip add button 660 by the user.When a user clicks on a collapsed snip object 665, it transforms into anexpanded snip object 675, opening a display space 735 and presentingsnip object 122. As shown in FIG. 6 b, the snip object 122 may be shownincluding different attributes of a snip object, such as snip title 325,snip image 335, creator 350, note 330, comments 347 and snip-text switch740 enabling a user to view the snip text 340 associated with the snipimage 335.

The point database 110 of some embodiments is implemented in anon-transitory permanent data storage such as a hard drive, a flashmemory, etc. In some embodiments, the point database 110 can be a filesystem, database management system, a binary large object (BLOB), adocument, a table, etc. The point database 110 stores point object 112and point object 114.

Each point object also includes a set of attributes. FIG. 2 illustratesan example point object in more detail. Specifically, FIG. 2 shows pointobject 112 and point object 114 that are stored in the point database110. FIG. 2 also illustrates a set of attributes that is stored withinthe point object 112. These attributes only represent examples of thekinds of attributes that can be included within a point object. Thepoint objects of some embodiments can add attributes to or removeattributes from this set to better suit a particular situation.

The point ID 205 is used to uniquely identify a point object. It can bea number, a string, a GUID, a URL, or any other type of uniqueidentifier. It can be used as a reference identifier when it isreferenced by a snip object. It can also be used for storing the pointobject and retrieving the point object from the point database 110.

The point type 210 of a point object can be used to indicate a type ofthe point. Points are digital documents, and can be a report,presentation, argument, blog, post, message or any form of digitaldocument. The point name 215 is used to store user input that labels thepoint object, and in some embodiments can represent a point author'smain point, conclusion, recommendation or other assertion. The pointcontent 220 comprises the content of the point, which may includenarrative paragraph(s) of text, bulleted or numbered lists, ahierarchical structure (e.g. outline), linked or embedded pictures,video files, audio files or other digital document files. Point tags 225are used to store any keyword tags that a user associates with a pointobject 112. The snip ID 305 is used to uniquely identify snip objectthat a user has linked within the snip object 122.

Title visibility indicators 230 are used by the point authoring module150 to determine whether the snip titles 325 should be displayed tousers within the point object body as shown in FIG. 6 a and FIG. 7 a.

Point comments 232 are comments that users who have access to view thepoint object can input regarding the point object. As shown in FIG. 9 a,point comments 232 include a point ID 205, comment ID 905 that uniquelyidentifies the comment, comment text 910 that has been input by a user,creation date 915 which indicates the date when a user input the commenttext 910, last update date 920 which indicates the date that a user ofthe point management system 100 last updated the comment text 910,creator 925 that identifies a user who created the point comment 232 andcomment ID 930 which indicates whether the point comment is a comment ora task, and if a task, the ID of the task.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the point author 235 identifies a user whoauthored the point object 112. The publication date 240 indicates thedate that the point author published the point object 112. The lastmodified date 245 indicates the date that a user of the point managementsystem 100 last modified the point object 112.

The snip database 120 of some embodiments is implemented in anon-transitory permanent data storage such as a hard drive, a flashmemory, etc. In some embodiments, the snip database 120 can be a filesystem, database management system, a binary large object (BLOB), adocument, a table, etc.

Each snip object also includes a set of attributes. FIG. 3 illustratesan example snip object in more detail. Specifically, FIG. 3 shows snipobject 122 and snip object 124 that are stored in the snip database 120.FIG. 3 also illustrates a set of attributes that is stored within thesnip object 122. These attributes only represent examples of the kindsof attributes that can be included within a snip object. The snipobjects of some embodiments can add attributes to or remove attributesfrom this set to better suit a particular situation.

The snip ID 305 is used to uniquely identify a snip object. It can be anumber, a string, a GUID, a URL, or any other type of unique identifier.It can be used as a reference identifier when it is referenced by apoint object. It can also be used for storing the snip object andretrieving the snip object from the snip database 120.

The snip type 310 of a snip object can be used to indicate a type of thesnip. For example, as mentioned above, one embodiment of snip objects iswhen they comprise assertion objects which represent a relationshipbetween an assertion and an information source (e.g., an opinion,conclusion, perspective, etc.). Thus, the snip type 310 of someembodiments can indicate n snip type of the snip object.

The literal ID 505 is used to uniquely identify a literal object fromwhich the snip was derived, and can be used reference identifier when itis referenced by snip object 122. It can be a number, a string, a GUID,a URL, or any other type of unique identifier.

The literal type 510 is used to indicate a type of the literal. Asmentioned above, a literal could comprise a digital document, web page,e-Book, blog, picture, video, audio or other form of digital contentknown in the art, and in some embodiments may further identify theformat of the literal.

The snip image 335 represents an image extracted from a snip object 122based on user selection, and snip text 340 represents text captured froma snip object 122 based on user selection, or extracted from snip image335. The snip title 325 is used to store user input that labels the snipobject, note 330 is used to store associated notes that are input by auser and snip tags 345 is used to store any keyword tags that a userassociates with a snip object 122.

Snip comments 347 are comments that users who have access to view thesnip object can input regarding the snip object. As shown in FIG. 9 b,snip comments 347 include a snip ID 305, comment ID 930 that uniquelyidentifies the comment, comment text 935 that has been input by a user,creation date 940 which indicates the date when a user input the commenttext 935, last updated date 945 which indicates the date that a user ofthe point management system 100 last updated the comment text 935 andcreator 950 that identifies a user who created the snip comment 347.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the creator 350 identifies a user who createdthe snip object 122 by selecting an excerpt from a literal object 132.The creator 350 can be a name, a number (e.g., social security number),or a string of characters. The creation date 355 indicates the date thatthe creator created the snip object 122. The last updated date 360indicates the date that a user of the point management system 100 lastmodified the snip object.

As shown in FIG. 3, parts 365 are part of snip object 122. As shown inFIG. 4, parts 365 contains information about the specific location, orlocations, of where a snip object was selected by a user from within anliteral object, here shown in an embodiment where the literal type 510is a document where a snip can span one or more pages. Each part in thecollection of parts represents one of the potentially many displaycomponents of the snip. Parts 365 is shown as including a part index 405to indicate the specific display part, and a page number 410 forlocating the page within the literal object from where the snip wascaptured for a given display part. Top coordinate 415 and leftcoordinate 420 are used to locate a corner of the part of the snipobject within the literal object, and width 425 and height 430 enablethe precise outline of the part of the snip object location within theliteral object. Parts 365 could be any data set that enablesdetermination of the spatial location, or locations, of a snip objectwithin a literal object, including a set of coordinates, a time index, agraphical coordinate, a paragraph number, a line number, a word number,a pair of document coordinate attributes or document object model (DOM)element coordinate.

In some embodiments, the snip object 122 can include references to morethan one literal object (e.g., when a snip object is derived from acombination of more than one literal object). In these embodiments, thesnip object 122 can store more than one literal ID/type pairs.

Referring back to FIG. 3, rights policy data 370 includes informationthat indicates which users have access to the snip object. In someembodiments, it can include a list of users who have access to the snipobject (i.e., a white list), or a list of users who are excluded fromaccessing the snip object (i.e., a black list). In other embodiments, itcan indicate a specific access level (e.g., top security, public, group,etc.) so that only users who have clearance of a specific access levelcan access the snip object. Rights policy data 370 could also comprise apointer to an external database that governs access rights to snipobjects 122. In other embodiments, rights policy data 370 is based onthe rights policy data 550 of the literal object associated with thesnip object, with the point authoring module 150 or snip verificationengine 158 using literal ID 505 to determine user access to snip object122. This can be done via database lookup of literal ID 505 withinliteral database 130 using any method known to those skilled in the art.

At least some of these attributes can be updated or modified during thelifetime of the snip object. In addition, each snip object is distinctlymanageable apart from its information source. For example, the snipobject 122 can be retrieved from the snip database 120 independent ofthe literal object from which it was derived. The user can view andmodify the content of the snip object independent of the literal object(e.g., viewing the snip object, updating snip object metadata, etc.).The snip object can also be independently published (either in paperform or digital form) without referring to the literal object.

The literal database 130 of some embodiments is implemented in anon-transitory permanent data storage such as a hard drive, a flashmemory, etc. In some embodiments, the literal database 130 can be a filesystem, database management system, a binary large object (BLOB), adocument, a table, etc. The literal database 130 stores literal object132 and literal object 134. Each of the literal objects 132 and 134comprise a form of digital content, and may comprise a digital document,web page, e-Book, blog, picture, video, audio or other form of digitalcontent known in the art. In some embodiments, the snip verificationengine 158 is communicatively coupled with the literal database 130.

Each literal object also includes a set of attributes. FIG. 5illustrates an example literal object in more detail. Specifically, FIG.5 shows literal object 132 and literal object 134 that are stored in theliteral database 130. FIG. 5 also illustrates a set of attributes thatis stored within the literal object 132. These attributes only representexamples of the kinds of attributes that can be included within aliteral object. The literal objects of some embodiments can addattributes to or remove attributes from this set to better suit aparticular situation.

The literal ID 505 is used to uniquely identify a literal object. It canbe used as a reference identifier when it is referenced by snip object122. It can also be used for storing the literal object and retrievingthe literal object from the literal database 130. The literal ID 505 canbe a uniform resource locator (URL), a uniform resource identifier(URI), an IP address, a file name, an identifier of a document ID suchas a digital object identifier (DOI), an object reference, and othertypes of pointers.

The literal type 510 of a literal object can be used to indicate a typeof the literal. As mentioned above, a literal could comprise a digitaldocument, web page, e-Book, blog, picture, video, audio or other form ofdigital content known in the art. In some embodiments, literal type mayfurther indicate a sub-type of a literal type. For example, when theliteral type 510 is a digital document, the literal type 510 may furtheridentify the file format of the document (e.g. PDF, Word®, PowerPoint®).

The literal name 515 stores the name of the literal object. Literallength 520 stores the length of the literal. In the case where theliteral object is a digital document, web page or e-Book the literallength 520 may be expressed as a page count. In cases where the literalobject is a video or audio, the literal length 520 may be expressed as aduration of the audio or video in minutes and/or seconds. The thumbnail525 is an image of the literal that can be used to uniquely identify theliteral object from other literal objects, and differentiate for humanconsumption, particularly when displaying lists of literal objects orreferences to literal objects via an output device 180.

The creator 530 identifies a user who caused the literal object 132 tobe added to the literal database 130. The creator 530 can be a name, anumber (e.g., social security number), or a string of characters. Thecreation date 535 indicates the date that the creator caused the literalobject to be added to the literal database 130. The last modified date540 indicates the date that a user of the point management system 100last modified the literal object.

The author ID 545 identifies the person or persons who originallyauthored the literal object. The point management system 100 of someembodiments can include another database that stores information ofdifferent authors. The system 100 can then retrieve the author'sinformation by querying the database using the author ID 545.

Rights policy data 550 includes information that indicates which usershave access to the literal object. In some embodiments, it can include alist of users who have access to the literal object (i.e., a whitelist), or a list of users who are excluded from accessing the literalobject (i.e., a black list). In other embodiments, it can indicate aspecific access level (e.g., top security, public, group, etc.) so thatonly users who have clearance of a specific access level can access theliteral object. Rights policy data 550 could also comprise a pointer toan external database that governs access rights to literal object 132.

When creator 530 creates a literal object, some or all of theseattributes are generated automatically based on information collected orgiven by the creator 530. At least some of these attributes can beupdated or modified during the lifetime of the literal object.

In some embodiments, the literal database 130 stores literal objectsthat are associated with a plurality of different literals made byusers.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an exemplary snip insertion method 1000executed by the point management system 100 for accessing and binding asnip object within a point object. The method begins at 1010 with thepoint management system responding to a user's request for insertion ofa snip object at a user-specified insertion point within the pointobject. At 1020 the point management system determines a set of snipobjects that the user has access to view according to the rights policydata governing the user's access to snip objects within the snip objectdatabase. At 1030 the point management system presents a list of snipobjects to the user along with a snip search engine for searching thelist of snips based on inputs from the user which filer the list. At1040 the point management system accesses the snip content and metadatacorresponding with the snip object selected by the user, as identifiedby snip ID. At 1050 the point management system updates the point HTMLto include the snip ID and snip metadata such as snip title. At 1060 thepoint management system visually presents the updated HTML to a userbased on the user-selected configuration of the title visibilityindicators that indicate to users that a snip object has been insertedinto the point object. At 1070 the point management system responds to auser request to save the updated point by validating that the snip IDreferences a snip object that user has access to view according to therights policy data governing the user's access to snip objects.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an exemplary snip viewing method 1100executed by the point management system 100 for viewing a snip objectthat has been linked within a point object. The method begins at 1120with the point management system presenting visual indicators to theuser indicating which snip objects the user has access to within thepoint object according to the rights policy data governing the user'saccess to snip objects. At 1130 the point management system responds toa user's request to view a particular snip object by determining whetherto alter the display of point HTML based on evaluating the user's accessto that snip object. At 1140, if the rights policy does not allow theuser access to the requested snip object, then at 1150 a message isdisplayed to the user indicating they lack access to view the requestedsnip object. If the rights policy does allow the user to access therequested snip object, then at 1160 the point management systemretrieves the snip contents from the snip object database associatedwith that snip object based on snip ID. Then at 1170 the pointmanagement system updates the point object HTML to present the snipcontents as part of the display of the point HTML.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an exemplary snip verification method1200 executed by the point management system 100 for presenting a snipobject in the context of a literal object (here illustrated as adocument) from where it was derived for verification by a user of themerits of assertions made within the snip object or point object withinwhich the snip object has been linked. The method begins at 1210 whenthe point management system responds to a user request to view a snipobject in the context of a document by determining whether the user hasaccess to the document reference by the snip object. At 1220 if therights policy data governing the user's access to the document does notallow the user to access the literal object, then at 1230 a message isdisplayed to the user indicating they lack access to the document. Ifthe rights policy allows user access to the document, then at 1240 thepoint management system responds by locating the document within theliteral object database based on the literal ID referenced by the snipobject. At 1250 the point management system then launches a documentviewer for displaying the document. At 1260, the document viewer rotatesthe document to the page where the snip object was captured from asstored within the snip object. At 1270 the point management systemvisually displays an outline around the snip image based on the snipcoordinates and dimensional information contained within the snipobject. At 1280 the point management system visually displays themetadata for the snips associated with the document, and at 1290 draws acallout from the outline around the snip image to the snip metadataassociated with that snip image.

FIG. 13 shows an embodiment of point management system 100 as includinga point widget 1310 embedded inside a host web page 1300. In FIG. 13,host web page 1300 is shown in the form of an activity stream. Host webpage 1300 could be a blog page, wiki page, discussion forum page,web-based email thread, page hosted within a web application, corporatewebsite or social network, or any other form of web page known in theart.

As shown in FIG. 1 a, in some embodiments, point management system 100may also include a snipping module 148 for creating snip objects fromliteral object stored in literal database 130. Snipping module 148 iscommunicatively coupled with user interface module 154 and literaldatabase 130, enabling users of computing devices 172, 174 and 176 toupload literal objects into literal database 130 and to create snipobjects from them. When a user selects a literal object for viewing andsnipping through user interface module 154, snipping module 148 cangenerate snipping interface 1400 as shown in FIG. 14 and load literalthe selected literal object.

As shown in FIG. 14, snipping interface 1400 includes a literal viewer805 and snip viewer 820. Literal viewer 805 may comprise a documentviewer, such as a web-based document viewer, a universal documentviewer, a PDF viewer, an e-Book viewer, a web browser or any digitaldocument viewer known in the art. Literal viewer 805 may also comprise avideo player, audio player or image viewer. Literal viewer 805 isconfigured to load and display literal objects from the literal database130 upon instruction from snipping module 148.

Snipping interface 1400 further includes a snip viewer 820. Snip viewer820 is configured to display snip metadata associated with literalobjects displayed in the literal viewer 805. For example, as shown inFIG. 14, snip metadata 824 and snip metadata 826 may represent variousattributes of snip objects including snip titles 325, notes 330 and sniptags 345 that are associated snip objects snipped from literal object132. Snip metadata could include other snip object attributes, includingsnip type 310, creator 350, snip comments 347 or any snip objectattribute that comprises snip objects as shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 14further illustrates a snip object input 1410 while the snip object isbeing created by a user. When a user positions snip image frame 840 overa page of literal object 132, snipping interface 1400 is configured todraw pointer 830 to visually display the relationship between snipmetadata 822 and the snip image frame 840. Upon hitting save button1450, the page number 410, top coordinate 415, left coordinate 415,width 425 and height 430 associated with the selected snip object areall saved in parts 365 within snip database 120. Prior to hitting savebutton 1450, the user may be prompted to input one or more items of snipmetadata, including snip title 325, notes 330 and snip tags 345.

Snip objects may be created from documents, web pages, videos, audiofiles or other content stored within the literal database 130. A usermay incorporate snip objects into a point object and then create pointsbased on those snip objects (bottoms-up point-maker) as depicted in FIG.6 b, or create their points first and then add snips to a point object(top-down point-maker) as shown in FIG. 6 a. Snip objects may beassociated with point objects using any method known to those skilled inthe art, including but not limited to drag-and-drop of snip objects, ortyping the “@” or other symbol within a point-object field to trigger aquery of a snip object database as shown in FIG. 6 a.

In similar operation to literal user interface 800, when user selects asnip metadata 824 or 826, snipping module 148 instructs literal viewer805 to display the page of literal object 132 corresponding to pagenumber 410 in parts 365 associated with the corresponding snip object.Snipping module 148 further positions snip image frame 840 according tothe top coordinate 415, left coordinate 415, width 425 and height 430associated with the selected snip object. Snipping module 148 is furtherconfigure to draw pointer 830 to visually display the relationshipbetween a selected snip and the snip image frame 840 which correspondswith that snip object. In operation, if the user then selected snipmetadata 826, the process would repeat, literal viewer 805 would rotateto the page associated with the snip object referenced by snip metadata826 and the snip image frame 840 would be positioned according to thesnip object referenced by snip metadata 826.

The above description of snipping module 148 is just one implementationof a snipping module. Additional embodiments of snipping modules forcreating snip objects are described in co-owned U.S. patent application61/722,033 entitled “Collaboration Management Systems”, filed Nov. 2,2012 wherein snip objects are referred to as collaboration objects, andin co-owned U.S. patent application 61/788,106 entitled “Website ExcerptValidation and Management System”, filed Mar. 15, 2013, wherein snipobjects are referred to as document clip objects. Additionally, snipobjects may be created using a snipping module interfaced with a readingapplication, as described in co-owned U.S. patent application 61/968,505entitled “System and Method for Transmitting Organizational Knowledge Toand From Reading Applications”, filed Mar. 21, 2014.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many moremodifications besides those already described are possible withoutdeparting from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subjectmatter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of theappended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification andthe claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possiblemanner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises”and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements,components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that thereferenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized,or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are notexpressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at leastone of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . andN, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from thegroup, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.

What is claimed is:
 1. a point management system, comprising: a literaldatabase, configured to store a plurality of literal objects; and a snipdatabase configured to store a plurality of snip objects, each snipobject in the plurality of snip objects comprising: an excerpt ofdigital content from a literal object stored in the literal database; atleast one piece of snip metadata input by a user; a snip locationcorresponding with the location of the excerpt of digital content withinthe literal object; and a point authoring module coupled with the snipdatabase and configured to: provide a user interface configured to allowa user to generate a set of points; generate a query in real-time basedon key words according to user input; submit the query to the snipdatabase; receive a result set of snip objects from the snip databasethat satisfy the query; instantiate a point object based on the set ofsnips; link the point object to at least one of the snip objects in theresult set; configure a device to store the point object; and a snipverification engine coupled with the snip database and the literaldatabase, configured to detect an interaction with the snip objectwithin a document; instantiate a literal viewer including the literalobject associated with the snip object, by looking up the literal objectwithin the literal database, wherein the literal viewer comprises: atleast one snip location; at least one piece of snip metadata; render thesnip within the document according to the literal viewer.
 2. The pointmanagement system of claim 1 wherein the literal object comprises adocument.
 3. The point management system of claim 2, wherein the sniplocation comprises a set of coordinates identifying a section of adocument.
 4. The point management system of claim 3, further comprisinga metadata management system configured to resolve differences betweenthe rights policies of point objects, snip objects and literal objects.5. The point management system of claim 3 wherein user access to snipobjects is governed by the rights policy data for literal objectsreferenced by the snip objects.
 6. The point management system of claim1, wherein the point metadata is classified as one of the followingbased on the annotation event: a fact, a point, a conclusion and asynthesis.
 7. The point management system of claim 1 further comprisinga snipping module that enables users to create snip objects and storesthem in the snip object database.
 8. The point management system ofclaim 1, wherein the snip objects returned from the query of the snipobject database include snip objects created by users other than theauthor of the point object.
 9. The point management system of claim 1,further comprising a point card widget configured for insertion withinan activity stream.
 10. a point management system, comprising: a literaldatabase, configured to store a plurality of literal objects; and a snipdatabase configured to store a plurality of snip objects, each snipobject in the plurality of snip objects comprising: an excerpt ofdigital content from a literal object stored in the literal database; atleast one piece of snip metadata input by a user; a snip locationcorresponding with the location of the excerpt of digital content withinthe literal object; an indicator for inclusion in a point object; and apoint authoring module coupled with the snip database and configured to:provide a user interface configured to allow a user to generate a set ofpoints; instantiate a point object based on the set of points; load snipobjects into the point object according to their indicators; re-orderthe snip objects; link the loaded snip objects within the point object;configure a device to store the point object; and a snip verificationengine coupled with the snip database and the literal database,configured to detect an interaction with the snip object within adocument; instantiate a literal viewer including the literal objectassociated with the snip object, by looking up the literal object withinthe literal database, wherein the literal viewer comprises: at least onesnip location; at least one piece of snip metadata; render the snipwithin the document according to the literal viewer.
 11. The pointmanagement system of claim 10, wherein the snip objects are re-orderedpursuant to user instructions.
 12. The point management system of claim11 wherein the literal object comprises a document.
 13. The pointmanagement system of claim 12, wherein the snip location comprises a setof coordinates identifying a section of a document.
 14. The pointmanagement system of claim 13, further comprising a metadata managementsystem configured to resolve differences between the rights policies ofpoint objects, snip objects and literal objects.
 15. The pointmanagement system of claim 13 wherein user access to snip objects isgoverned by the rights policy data for literal objects referenced by thesnip objects.
 16. The point management system of claim 10, wherein thepoint metadata is classified as one of the following based on theannotation event: a fact, a point, a conclusion and a synthesis.
 17. Thepoint management system of claim 10 further comprising a snipping modulethat enables users to create snip objects and stores them in the snipobject database.
 18. The point management system of claim 10, furthercomprising a point card widget configured for insertion within anactivity stream.